Paris Olympics showcase the challenges of finding optimal vision correction for athletes
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Stephen Nedoroscik first rose to fame as “the pommel horse guy” during the Paris Olympics, after which he went viral on social media and recently made his dancing debut on season 31 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
While many people have been captivated by the 25-year-old’s ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 9 seconds or his record of being in the top 1.7% of all Rocket League players, what many eye care professionals noticed is that Nedoroscik removes his glasses to perform on the pommel horse.
“You’re feeling how your center of mass sort of swivels around,” Nedoroscik told CNN. “I don’t see. I don’t need to see to see what I’m doing. ... I’m just doing it by how it feels.”
Nedoroscik is not the only Olympic medalist this year who forwent using their vision correction during their event. Gymnast Rebeca Andrade told Olympics.com in 2023 that she prefers to perform without hers, saying, “I tried contact lenses but I didn’t like it because I started to see [the beam] really well, and I don’t want to see it so well.”
“It’s very fascinating to me that people are operating at their highest level, at what I would consider not optimal correction,” Jade Coats, OD, who practices at McDonald Eye Associates and is a Contact Lens Institute Visionary, told Healio. “They’ve figured out a way to adapt and they all mention utilizing their sense of touch.”
Nedoroscik has been open about the fact that he has both strabismus and coloboma, a rare congenital condition that occurs when part of the eye tissue is missing.
Coats noted that if Nedoroscik was her patient, she would consider daily disposable contact lenses due to his potentially chalky environment, or possibly explore photochromic contact lenses to help with light sensitivity, while Terri A. Gossard, OD, MS, National Medical Director of Clinical Integration for EyeCare Partners, presented other options, including prosthetic iris surgery, prism glasses or specialized opaque contact lenses to replicate the missing iris tissue.
However, Gossard agreed that the environment in which Nedoroscik competes may limit his options.
“I can imagine all the chalk in the gymnastics arena and other things that could be irritants would make wearing contact lenses challenging,” Gossard said.
Coats discussed the challenge of finding an option that would both correct his strabismus and help his light sensitivity in a bright arena. She suggested that if glasses were the chosen option, polycarbonate lenses with an anti-reflective coating and Transitions photochromic technology could balance the demands of being impact resistant while optimizing vision as adequately as possible for an environment with bright lights.
“Despite wonderful technology available to assist in this scenario, it is also a fine alternative to perform without spectacle or vision correction if still safe,” Coats said, “In this case, he excels, so why fix his vision in that scenario if it seemingly doesn’t interfere with his goals? After all, his glasses are the first thing he reaches for upon sticking his landings.”
Beyond the bright lights and chalk, the speed at which Nedoroscik has to manipulate his body on the pommel horse may further limit his options. While he reportedly used to wear nonprescription sports goggles he received as a Secret Santa gift in college, Nedoroscik opted not to wear them during the Olympics.
“It really does underscore how fast he must be flipping around that pommel horse, because he talks about how even the nonprescription goggles just fly off,” Gossard told Healio. “It doesn’t sound like the pommel horse really lends itself to even some of our more traditional sports goggles.”
Yet even without vision correction, Nedoroscik secured two Olympic bronze medals in Paris, scoring 14.866 in the men’s team finals and 15.3 in the individual pommel horse finals.
In addition to his skilled command of the pommel horse, in a recently resurfaced TikTok video Nedoroscik demonstrated his command of his eyes. In the video he explains, “I can switch my dominant eye on command with both eyes open and I really can’t find anything on the subject.”
He then demonstrates this skill, asking eye doctors to weigh in and explain why he is able to do this while many people with strabismus cannot.
Gossard said it is not uncommon for people with strabismus to be able to alternate which eye is fixating.
“I saw that video, and it’s very impressive that he’s able to do it,” Coats said. “That’s probably the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone be able to switch back and forth. That was Olympic speed. It’s like he’s ambidextrous, but with his eyeballs.”
References:
- Biles continues golden run; Carey, Nedoroscik win bronze at Paris Games. https://usagym.org/biles-continues-golden-run-carey-nedoroscik-win-bronze-at-paris-games/. Published Aug. 3, 2024. Accessed Sept. 19, 2024.
- Paris 2024 comes into focus for Rebeca Andrade and Team Brazil. https://olympics.com/en/news/rebeca-andrade-team-brazil-close-qualification-paris-2024. Published Oct. 2, 2023. Accessed Sept. 23, 2024.
- Stephen Nedoroscik (@gymnaststeve). Aug. 19, 2022. TikTok.
- These vision-impaired Olympic stars rely on a ‘sixth sense’ when they compete. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/04/health/olympics-athletes-vision-stephen-nedoroscik/index.html. Published Aug. 5, 2024. Accessed Sept. 20, 2024.
- U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik goes viral after helping team secure bronze—here’s when he’ll compete next. https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/07/30/us-gymnast-stephen-nedoroscik-goes-viral-after-helping-team-secure-bronze-heres-when-hell-compete-next/. Published July 30, 2024. Accessed Oct. 7, 2024.
- U.S. men win historic team bronze at 2024 Olympic Games. https://usagym.org/u-s-men-win-historic-team-bronze-at-2024-olympic-games/. Published July 29, 2024. Accessed Sept. 19, 2024.
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